Embroidering-machine.



P. WELLER.

EMBROIDERING MACHINE- APPLICATION FILED FEB.27| 1914.

Patented July 113 1915.

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ATTORNEY PAUL WELLER, OF WEST HOIBOKEN, NEW JERSEY.

EMBROIDERING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 13, 3.915.

Application filed February 27, 1914. Serial No. 821,381.

broidering machines of the type employed for work upon a large number of pieces of stock, for instance handkerchiefs, and for so exposing an available surface of each piece of stock as to facilitate the working of a design thereupon, by means of power-driven embroidering needles and related mechanism commonly used for the purpose.

lVhat I seek to do, essentially, by my present invention is to save space in the sense of allowing, other things being equal, a comparatively large number of pieces of stock to be placed upon a frame of given size, or, other things being equal, to enlarge the available working space exposed by each piece of stock. In carrying out this object, I seek to so arranged the needles, punches, and presser fingers employed for operating upon the work, that no space is wasted by virtue of these parts being so disposed relatively to each other as to take up unnecessary room. In this connection, I will state briefly a few facts relative to embroidering machines of the type under discussion.

As is well known in this art, a Swiss embroidering machine is so arranged that the needles thereon may be spaced in multiples of four-quarters of an inch apart, or multiples of six-quarters of an inch apart. The usual machine is a so-called four-quarters repeat; that is, the needles can be spaced in multiples of four-quarters of an inch apart. lVith the fabric frame now commonly used, it is necessary to space the needles twelvequarters, or three inches, apart in order to obtain a working surface about one and onehalf inches wide, upon a piece of stock such as a handkerchief. By making the gripping bars of the fabric frame comparatively narrow, the available space for Work upon the stock may be slightly increased.

In connection with the embroidering needles, which are arranged in rows and spaced apart as above described, there are employed a number of punches, usually one for each needle. In front of the needles and punches-that is, upon the opposite side of the fabric therefrom-is the shuttle mechanism and parts immediately related thereto,

this mechanism having provision for allowing the punch to make its thrust through the fabric, and also for enabling the needle to be thrust repeatedly through the fabric. After the punch makes its thrust and produces a hole through the fabric, the fabric frame is, in most of the machines now used, moved vertically upward in order that the hole made by the punch may be brought into proper registry with the needle corresponding to this punch.

As a general rule, in the embroidering ma-.

chines now used, a needle is placed directly above each punch, and a presser finger, having a substantially uniform Wldtll throughout its entire length, and curved or bent' over at its upper end, is placed alongside each punch and the needle associated therewith. The purpose of the presser finger is to coact with the needle, and also to some extent to coact with the punch, by pressing upon the stock as the needle or the punch is thrust thereinto and withdrawn therefrom.

The presser finger is located to one side of a needle and the particular punch associated with such needle, as the presser finger must of course be kept out of the paths of travel of the needle and the punch. Being thus located relatively to the needle and punch, and having, like the needle and punch, no horizontal movements in a direction crossing the general direction in which the needles and punches extend, the presser finger necessarily takes up considerable room, in the sense that, in moving the fabric frame horizontally, its gripping bars can not be brought very close to one side of each needle and punch, owing to the presence of the presser finger located adjacent thereto. Suppose, for instance, that the presser finger is half an inch wide, and is located in close proximity to a needle and punch, and upon the right side thereof to an observer facing in the general direction in which the punches and needles extend; if, now, the fabric frame be moved toward the observefs left until one of the gripping barsflmoves into engagement with the presser finger in question, this gripping bar will be at least half an inch from the punch and needle under discussion, Therefore, no embroidering can be done within the space of half an inch to the left of the gripping bar. In order that the design may be symmetrical, or in other words, that its right and left sides may be either alike or true reversals of each other, it is impracticable to do any work within the space of half an inch to the right of the gripping bar. The net result is, that one inch of space, measured horizontally, is rendered unavailable for each piece of stock. Where the pieces of stock are small, as for instance in handkerchiefs, and especially where the gripping bars are comparatively close together in order to accommodate small designs, this loss of space is quite a material factor? By increasing the number of'pieces of stockwhich can be placed upon a given frame, the loss of space materially curtails the output possible for a given machine and for a given operator. What I seek to do, therefore, is to give the presser finger such form as to reduce to a minimum thespace wasted as above described.- By providing the presser finger with a recess of substantially semicircular form, and so placing the presser finger that this recess is substantially concentric to the punch, I Virtually bring the presser finger closer to a vertical line through the punch; and by making the upper end of the presser finger comparatively narrow, I find it practicable to locate this upper end directly below the needle and directly over the punch. By giving the presser finger an arbitrary form, therefore, I virtually do away with its width and so avoid the waste of valuable space otherwise taken up by virtue of the width of the presser finger.

Reference is made to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, and in which like letters indicate like parts.

Figure 1 is a vertical section, on the line 11 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrow, and showing my improved presser finger together with the punch, needles, and other parts immediately associated therewith. Fig. 2 is a section, on the line 22 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrow.

Various parts of the movable frame work of the machine are shown at 3, 4 and 5. A fabric frame is shown at 6, and is slidably mounted between guides 7, 8, in the usual or any desired manner. The gripping bars of thefabric frame appear at 9, and at 10 are a number of separate pieces of stock, in this instance handkerchiefs. A needle bar is shown at 11, and is secured by fastenings 12 to slides, one of which is shown at 13, the latter being mounted upon a guide bar 14. The needles are shown at 15, and are secured in position by fastenings 16, upon extensions 16 carried by the needle bar 11.

A punch bar is shown at 17, and is carried by a pair of slides, one of which appears at 18 and is mounted upon a guide bar 18. The punch bar 17 carries a number of punches 19, and is so arranged that each of these punches is in the same vertical plane as one of the needles 15.

The shuttle bar is shown at 20, and carries a number of shuttle guides 21 containing the shuttles, not shown. The driver bar appears at 22 and carries a spring washer 23 held in position by a bolt 24. ltxtending from the driver bar 22 are two platen rods 25, 26, which extend against the shuttle guides. Each shuttle guide 21 is provided with a face plate 21, this face plate being provided with a hole 21 for receiving the thrust of the needle 15.

A rocking bar is shown at 28, and carries a finger bar 29, the latter being secured to said rocking bar by aid of bolts 27. The finger carrying bar 29 carries a number of presser fingers 30, each having substantially the shape indicated in Fig. 2. Each finger bar is provided with a recess 31, of substantially semicircular form. Each presser finger is further provided with. a very narrow portion 32 of substantially serpentine form, integral with the body portion of the finger, and located directly over the geometrical center ofthe semicircular recess 31, as may be understood from Fig. 2. The position of the finger bar 29 and fingers 30 is such that a punch 19 extends into each recess 31 and is concentric to the curvature thereof, as may be understood from Fig. 2.

The various parts are so positioned that each needle 15 is directly over the adjacent serpentine portion 32 of the corresponding presser finger, and is also directly overthat is, strictly in vertical alinement withthe corresponding punch 19. Each needle is also in registry with its corresponding hole 21*.

As is usual in embroidering machines of this general type, the needle bar 11 is mov- -able in the general direction in which the needles extend, for the purpose of thrusting the needles through the stock, and the punch bar 17 is likewise movable in the general direction in which the punches extend, for the purpose of thrusting the punches through the stock and of retracting them. The movements of the needle bar are usually independent of the movements of the punch bar. A single movement, namely, a strictly vertical or simple lifting movement of the fabric frame6, for a distance correspond ing to the distance between a needle 15 and the corresponding punch 19, sutfices to enable a hole, made in the fabric by the punch, to be brought into proximate registry with the needle.

The operation of my device is as follows: The parts being arranged and assembled as described, and the handkerchiefs or other pieces of stock being secured upon the fabric frame 6 in the usual or any desired manner, the fabric frame is moved at intervals by mechanism well known in this art, and forming no part of my invention. At intervals, determinedby the judgment and skill of the operator, the punch bar 17 slides outward, that is, moves to the left according to Fig. 1, and is then retracted, so that each punch 19 is thrust through the recess 31 and perforates a piece of stock 10, the punch be ing withdrawn asthe punch bar resumes its normal position. This being done, the operator causes the fabric frame 6 to be moved directly upward, as above explained, so that the hole made by the punchis brought into exact registry with the particular needle corresponding to the punch just mentioned. The needle bar 11 is now actuated repeatedly by power, so that the needle and the'shuttle mechanism associated therewith effectively work or embroider the hole thus punched through the stock. The stopping and starting of the movements of the needle bar are controllable at the will of the operator. I do not deem it necessary to explain the part of the mechanism used for this purpose, the same being already well known in this art.

By virtue of the arrangement above described, and owing largely to the form of the presser fingers 30, the gripping bars 9 may be placed closer together, other things being equal, than Would be permissible wit the mechanism heretofore used.

I do not limit myself'tothe precise mechanism shown, as variations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of my invention. Neither do I limit'myself to the particular use here indicated for my device, as the same may be employed in av varietv of other relations.

Having thus described my inventiomwhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is as follows:

1. The combination of a punch bar, a punch mounted thereon, a needle bar, a needle carried by said needlebar and extending parallel with said punch, a presser finger provided with a recess with which said punch is in registry, said presser finger being further provided with a portion of reduced width for engaging a fabric, said portion of reduced width, said punch and said needle being disposed in a given, line, and a fabric frame having gripping bars parallel with said line.

2. In an embroidering machine, the combination of a fabric frame, shuttle mechanism located adjacent said fabric frame and disposed upon one side of a piece of stock carried thereby, said, shuttle mechanism being provided with an opening for receiving a needle and further provided with an opening for receiving a punch, said openings being in the same vertical plane, a needle bar disposed adjacent said fabric frame and 'movable bodily toward and from the same, a

punch bar located adjacent said fabric frame and likewise movable bodily toward and from the same, a needle carried by said needle bar, a" punch carried by said punch bar-and located in the same vertical plane as said needle, a presser finger provided with a portion disposed in the same vertical plane as said'needle, said presser finger being further provided with a recess through which said punch may be thrust into the piece of stock carried by said fabric frame.

In testimony whereof I sign my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

. PAUL WELLER.

Witnesses:

ALEXANDER LEVENE, ABRAHAM MANN. 

